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Consumers pay dire price after Bhutto assassination

A Pakistani man rides his donkey cart past the burnt-out building of a private telecom company that was torched by angry protesters in the wake of the assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto in Larkana, Pakistan, yesterday. PHOTO: AFP

Braving the crush of shoppers at a state-subsidized store, Seraj Ahmed hopes he can buy enough flour to feed his family -- all victims of the economic turmoil that has hit the already impoverished country following the slaying of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.

The stock market has plunged along with the local currency, while unrest has left hundreds of vehicles destroyed and banks burned. Damage to the railways alone is estimated at 12.3 billion rupees (US$201 million).

The latest unrest has only deepened the fears of people like Ahmed that life will not get better soon after the loss of the populist leader Bhutto, who despite her privileged background was seen as a woman of the people.

"They have already removed the person from the scene who could bring about any change," Ahmed wailed, referring to Bhutto. "The person who talks about the rights of the poor man has been eliminated."

Driven by aid and investment since it became a key US ally in the war on terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the US, Pakistan's economy has been growing and is targeted to grow by 7 percent for the fiscal year ending in mid-2008.

The Karachi Stock Exchange has hit record highs, with the market capitalization of shares trading there more than quadrupling since 2003.

Shares took a hit on the first day of trading on Monday after Bhutto's death, but still ended the year up 40 percent even with all the turmoil of last year such as rising suicide attacks, a state of emergency imposed by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and opposition party threats to boycott the parliament vote.

Already, the stock market fall appeared to be losing steam on Tuesday and shares were not expected to suffer in the long term, as investors are long accustomed to turbulence in Pakistan.

But what keeps stock brokers happy is a world apart from the lives of many of the 165 million people here, where one-third live below the poverty line earning less than US$1 a day.

Despite the central bank's hopes of seeing the inflation rate drop from 7.9 percent in 2006, recent forecasts show it likely to remain near that high. More critically, food prices rose by about 14 percent last year, after double-digit increases for both previous years.

Prices on some key foodstuffs rose further since Bhutto's killing last Thursday -- even doubling for some goods like vegetables -- owing to fears of shortages after transport links were cut.

Asad Sayeed, director of the Collective for Social Science Research, a private consultancy in Karachi, said those numbers were far more important than broader measures of economic prosperity that benefit few.

"Populist politics was trying to bridge that divide that had occurred in society. Benazir Bhutto was an important symbol of that bridge," Sayeed said. "In a way, you've had your party for the last five years, and not only do you need to nurse the hangover, but now you need to take care of other things because people around you are upset."
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